‘We deserve to live safely’: Rebecca Towers tenants call on landlord to make ‘long overdue’ repairs
The Rebecca Towers tenant committee is calling on the building's corporate landlord to fix unaddressed" repairs in the Beasley apartment complex.
The committee hosted a rally outside the 17-storey highrise Monday morning, before serving more than 45 work orders to the building office staff.
A handful of tenants attended the demonstration, which was hosted in the building's driveway, while others stood on their balconies, some of which were draped with signs calling for the repairs.
The Rebecca Street highrise was the site of the first apartment building outbreak in the city, which saw 107 residents and three staff members infected with COVID-19. One person died.
Located in the heart of Hamilton's downtown core, the building has been plagued by multiple fires, a 2016 flood that washed out tenants and an out-of-service elevator amid the pandemic. The elevator was brought back online earlier this month, according to organizer Emily Power.
On top of those issues, organizer and tenant Richard Weiss said residents of the building are facing long overdue" work orders for repairs that have gone unaddressed."
Weiss said their hope Monday was that the new work orders would prompt" their landlord, Toronto-based Medallion Corporation, to start the repairs.
The Spectator reached out to Medallion on Monday for comment but did not receive a response.
A lot of these repairs date back to before the pandemic," said Weiss, noting his own request regarding a nonfunctioning electrical outlet. There is no excuse for sitting on these things that were submitted beforehand."
Power said the work orders cover issues such as pest infestations, drywall issues, nonfunctioning appliances, peeling glaze on bathtubs, clogged vents as well as holes in walls and ceilings.
Photos taken by tenants and supplied to reporters also show broken cupboard doors, a hole in a shower wall sealed by a garbage bag and tape as well as radiators without covers.
Tenants have gone down to the office repeatedly, they've submitted work orders, they have done what is asked of them," said Power.
Lloyd Smith, a longtime tenant of the building, showed reporters a copy of a work order request he said was filed back in November 2017. It was to repair the ceiling of his top-floor unit that leaks water when it rains, Smith noted.
But the work was never done, he said.
Every year they leave it, and every year it gets worse and more expensive to fix," said Smith. Hopefully someday I won't have to put out buckets every time it rains."
Tenants from the building are also facing a rental hike beyond the province's annual 2.2 per cent guideline for 2020 to cover roughly $556,000 for new lights, hallway renovations and new doors.
The committee has secured funding from the city's tenant defence fund to help it challenge Medallion's bid for an above-guideline increase (AGI) before the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Power said a hearing date for the AGI had not been set as of Monday.
The tenant committee hopes it doesn't come to that," said Power.
Fallon Hewitt is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: fhewitt@thespec.com